Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I've never eaten truffle. I've had pizza with truffle oil, and I have smelled the truffle salt in the bulk section of my local grocery store.

Bacon covered turkey - though I don't think I approve of so much bacon. There should be an insufficient amount for all so as to encourage a spirited quest for the bacon amongst the children. It's a tradition.

some kind of tomato bread salad would be most refreshing

I used to love eating rice with soy sauce and a touch of sesame oil when I was growing up. I have never been able to eat it as an adult. It gives me serious heart burn each time. Plus it never tastes right. I don't know if it is because I still haven't mastered making Korean style rice like my mother's or if it is that I am not getting the correct ration of soy sauce to sesame. It's weird because I swear I used to make it myself when I was a kid.

We used to melt tub frosting in this little pan to pour over ice cream. I never use store bought frosting these days, and I am sure the ice cream we buy is ten times better quality. I wonder what that would taste like to me now.

salad with Tuscan cantaloupe and mint

My hometown is El Paso, TX. Most people hit up Chico's once in town. It is one of those places that only seem to exist in one's hometown. One of the things I miss most about El Paso is the refried beans at the Sunland Park Taco Cabana. They are the fluffliest most flavorful beans ever. It sounds far fetched, but each Taco Cabana makes their beans differently and differently at different times. The TC on Sunland Park is always consistent. Add the homemade tortillas, what used to be $1 margaritas and the best outdoor, hangout with old friends ambience and that is where I want to be first. After that I love Jaxon's green chile potato soup - most economical, creamiest, cheesiest, green chiliest deal in town.

Minneapolis - used to be Giorgio on Lake but that's closed, now I think the biggest draw for me is Uptown Diner's Tex Mex breakfast burrito. The irony that I know live in San Antonio, Tex Mex heaven, is not lost on me. The midwesterners at Uptown know how to make a good breakfast burrito: harshbrowns, onions and sausage grilled to perfection, served over two scrambled eggs, topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream, wrapped in a freash flour tortilla topped with salza

Austin - Kerbey Lane migas and now Chuy's panaderia

Brownwood, TX - my heart breaks when I remember Pass the Biscuits Please, RIP. For $.4.25 you would get 3 biscuits with perfectly cooked fried boneless, skinless chicken strips, french fries and wonderful gravy for dipping. You could also get fried pickles. I also miss the also gone Mr. Burger for the best Dr. Peppers ever. The perfect balance of syrup and carbonation, the best crushed ice. I'm so sad I can't get it anymore. Also gone - Dairy Maid, had the best onion rings ever. What happened Brownwood?!

In San Antonio you literally have to ask at each individual restaurant to know if what you want is called migas or chillaquilles. I prefer Austin migas to anything, but I have to concede after moving to San Antonio that the Austin places probably got the idea for migas from San Antonio.

roasted sweet potato - very nostalgic, my mom used to give them to us first thing to stave off our appetites

The cranberry sauce with champagne and currants. I just bought some currants for another recipe that I've decided not to do.

I think it's a bad idea for a business that depends on consumers to make a political statement one way or the other. My only exception is when it involves speaking out against prejudice and discrimination. It is his right to free speech to say whatever he wants, true, but it is his responsibility to his share holders to not alienate the market. I think people get mad at consumers for boycotts and not respecting free speech, but that is how the free market rolls. As a business you should be careful.

Whole Foods in Austin has this thing I call the Wall of Shame. You go up this strange electronic walkway thingy, and you see all these optimistic posters of the beginning stages of Whole Foods and the stores they opened. Then when you go down you just see the word "acquired," "acquired," "acquired," repeatedly, and I may be wrong, but it is seems to me that the acquiring was really a buying out of small independent stores.

I do feel alienated by his comments on health care. I don't agree, and it is truly important to me. I know so many people that fall into these crazy categories that make it difficult to get healthcare through employers. I don't think I am self-righteous or a hypocrite that I choose not to spend my hard earned money at a business when a CEO makes it easy for me to know his opinions. I know there are a lot of bad practices out there that I could onyl find out with a bit of investigation. He made it easy for me to see that he is speaking out against something that concerns me. Just sell me your goods, hold your politics. This blog often talks about making conscientious choices in how you spend your money, why is this different?

It is easy for him to make a statement about healthcare. He could probably pay for several organ transplants and the accompanying meds with cash outright.

This economic downturn is not a time to turn away any paying customers. I used to make special trips to Whole Foods to get items unavailable at my regular market. My regular market is probably much more conservative than Whole Foods, BUT they know how to keep their mouths shut for the most part. I also have the satisfaction of knowing they are local-ish. Plus, I notice that they tend to stock anything that Whole Foods does if you just ask. I think the workers at Whole Foods could likely get a job at the local stores. In fact, a new market style store that will only carry local products is opening. They can get a job there.

I also noted that he did not explain what harissa was, but this is a pilot. I'm sure he would eventually start getting more educational.

I think they were both equal, one better in some areas and the other better in others.

What I liked about Jeffrey's bio was the part where he has his daughter taste the ingredient by itself. I had an epiphany that I don't do that. I have NEVER tasted an ingredient by itself. I do realize that most would be offputting, but in the end everytime I use that ingredient I would understand its place in the dish better. It was at that point that I became excited about his concept. He didn't pull it off 100%, but I think overall his idea was the more compelling.

It's hard to say that Melissa should not have won just because I, personally, am more interested in Jeffrey's concept. This is especially so since I loved her muffin gratin. It was genius.

I am looking forward to her show and hope to see Jeffrey's concept somewhere, even if it is a video blog.

I'm not sure how regional CostCo's are, but they sell a coffee brand called Ruta Maya, free trade and delicious. The price and quantity is a steal, and as far as I can tell unavailable elsewhere.

The wine is about 1/2 price in some cases.

We never had proper mashed potatoes growing up. My mom would boil peeled potatoes, and we each got our own half of a potato to mash up with our fork and add butter/salt. I loved it.

When we started talking about mashed potatoes we got next door, instead of figuring out how they did it, she began buying boxed potato flakes.

My significant other is a bit compulsive about how his potatoes should be made and makes gagging noises when the word instant potatoes are uttered, so he INSISTED on our first Thanksgiving with my mother that he make the potatoes.

He wasn't used to her stove and pots, so he thought they came out not up to par that time. My mother, though, talks about them to this day. She's the one that insists that he make them now.

My mother, who has a good excuse in that she is Korean and not American, has always tried to approximate what she has eaten at other American households. If she eats a dish at a place that makes it terribly, then she makes it terribly. It just took that one time of eating proper homemade potatoes to change her mind.

My suggestion for the poster is to get ballsy and insist on making at least one item. Convert the mom one dish at a time.